Creating chalk artwork

Friday

DANSVILLE — The community came alive with art, music, food, and fundraising at the Chalk Walk and Art Festival this year.

On Aug. 4 downtown was filled with creative artists drawing on the sidewalks in front of businesses.

This year the selected artists were to work on black easels that were placed in the middle of the road.

Salome Farraro, Chalk Walk and Art Festival coordinator, said that the easels were a new idea.

“We wanted to try something new this year,” she said. “We thought we would try the easels to see how they work out.”

Farraro said that the artwork is all in the public eye, but they are walking across the threshold of Dansville ArtWorks to see what is going on in there.

“We wanted to get people exposed to all different kinds of art,” she said. “We have made it more interacting this year. It is great for them to meet other artists, and see what everyone else is doing. This is about the whole community.”

Jeff Miller said he really enjoyed this new format, and finds it to be much easier than working on the sidewalk.

“It is nice to have them out in the street like this,” he said. “The suggested we bring out longchairs to work on the art this year. It is a lot more comfortable to do it this way.”

Miller’s artwork this time around was centered on the upcoming NYS Festival of Balloons.

Rose Miller, Jeff’s daughter, was at her own easel on Main Street.

“I am working on the Mother Nature theme this time,” she said. “It just came to me. It is nice to do my own theme this year. We have both sides of the easel, so it gives us freedom to go back and forth.”

Miller said she grew up watching her father do drawings and paintings, so she learned a lot from him.

“I wanted to be just like daddy when I was growing up,” she said. “I am going to take Art Therapy in college. I feel like there are so many ways to interpret art. That is what I love the most about it. Anyone can see the art anyway they want.”

Zoe Veaunt worked on a tree coming out of a shard of glass as her art this year.

“I had so much fun doing this last year, that I didn’t want to miss doing it again,” she said. “I wanted to do something 3D this year. I looked at the tree across the street, and this just came to me.”

John Veaunt, Zoe’s father, said that his daughter is very unique in how she sees the world.

“This is a really cool festival. I like how you can walk by, and look at what everyone else is creating,” he said. “I think Dansville is really up and coming with events like this. You don’t see so much of this in other towns.

Becky and Derek Crocker worked in the juried section in front of Dansville Artworks. Becky did an owl and a bunny. Derek did the girl with a pearl earring.

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